Telling Tales

A collection of stories written and read by Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award-winning author Neil Gaiman, including "A Writer’s Prayer", which he says, "was written shortly before I began American Gods. I knew the first two verses when I began it, and the conclusion was there when I reached it. This is why I love writing."

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Speaking in Tongues

In Speaking in Tongues, Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award-winning author Neil Gaiman reads a selection of his own stories and poems, including "The Price", which he says "is more or less true. At least, the narrator...is pretty much me, the house is my house, the cats my cats, and the family is my family."

Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award-winning author Neil Gaiman reads stories and poems from his collection, Angels and Visitations, including "The Song of the Audience", about which Gaiman says, "I wish I knew when and where I'd written this. I found it one afternoon on the hard disk of my notebook computer. I'd suspect that it had been left there by pixies if it didn't read so much like something I'd written, and if the sentiments did not jibe so well with my own."

Odd and the Frost Giants

In a village in ancient Norway lives a boy named Odd, and he's had some very bad luck: His father perished in a Viking expedition; a tree fell on and shattered his leg; the endless freezing winter is making villagers dangerously grumpy. Out in the forest Odd encounters a bear, a fox, and an eagle - three creatures with a strange story to tell. Now Odd is forced on a stranger journey than he had imagined, a journey to save Asgard, city of the gods, from the Frost Giants who have invaded it.

The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains

You ask me if I can forgive myself? I can forgive myself. And so begins The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains, a haunting story of family, the otherworld, and a search for hidden treasure. This audiobook is brought to vivid life by the characters and landscape of Gaiman’s award-winning story. In this volume, the talents and vision of two great creative geniuses come together in a glorious explosion of color and shadow, memory and regret, vengeance and, ultimately, love.

Fragile Things

Marvelous creations, including a short story set in the world of The Matrix and others set in the worlds of gothic fiction and children's fiction, can be found in this extraordinary collection, which showcases Gaiman's storytelling brilliance as well as his entertaining (and dark) sense of humor.

Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions

In Smoke and Mirrors, Gaiman's imagination and supreme artistry transform a mundane world into a place of terrible wonders - where an old woman can purchase the Holy Grail at a thrift store, where assassins advertise their services in the Yellow Pages under "Pest Control," and where a frightened young boy must barter for his life with a mean-spirited troll living beneath a bridge by the railroad tracks.

Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances

In this new anthology, Neil Gaiman pierces the veil of reality to reveal the enigmatic, shadowy world that lies beneath. Trigger Warning includes previously published pieces of short fiction--stories, verse, and a very special Doctor Who story that was written for the fiftieth anniversary of the beloved series in 2013--as well as "Black Dog", a new tale that revisits the world of American Gods, exclusive to this collection.

Coraline

In Coraline's family's new flat are twenty-one windows and fourteen doors. Thirteen of the doors open and close. The fourteenth is locked, and on the other side is only a brick wall, until the day Coraline unlocks the door to find a passage to another flat in another house just like her own.

Eternity's Wheel

Joey Harker never wanted to be a leader. But he's the one everyone is looking to now that FrostNight looms, and he'll have to step up if he has any hope of saving InterWorld, the Multiverse, and everything in between.

Publisher's Summary

A collection of stories written and read by Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award-winning author Neil Gaiman:

A Writer’s Prayer "was written shortly before I began American Gods. I knew the first two verses when I began it, and the conclusion was there when I reached it. This is why I love writing."

Harlequin Valentine "was originally written as a short story. Lisa Snellings made a Ferris Wheel with strange creatures in each car, and writers wrote stories, one for each character. I was given the showman, a little Harlequin who took people’s tickets."

Boys and Girls Together "was written in a hotel room in Boston. It rained outside, and I was certain I was telling the world something very important."

The Wedding Present "is a story hidden in my book of short stories, Smoke and Mirrors. Some people who have copies of Smoke and Mirrors have skipped past it, and do not know that it was there. Do not tell them."

The End "is the kind of thing I find on my hard disk from time to time – small, gentle apocalypses that I do not quite remember writing."

Amusing tales. Why is there an an annoyingly FULL 16 MINUTES of disconsantant drum sounds at the end? I kept expecting it to "break out into story" but it never did.
It spoiled it for me...leaving off a good listen with such a disquieting feeling.

I was supremely annoyed by the waste of space for droning drums. I bought an audiobook, not a new age song. I love Gaiman's work, but I felt cheated by the lack of content in this program. I was so upset after listening that I really considered asking for a credit refund.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I loved "The Wedding Present," a 30-minute story about love and loss. The other four short stories (two under two minutes, one under three and the other about 20 minutes) were ok. However, as others have pointed out, there was a LOT of filler in the form of drums, including a full 16:24 minutes of drumming at the end as others have pointed out. Each of the other tracks, even the VERY short stories, also contain some drumming.

I had trouble rating this because I would have given "The Wedding Present" five stars, the other short stories an average of three, and the drumming a one star.

I almost would have considered this purchase worth it if it had JUST contained "The Wedding Present," but with the brevity of three of the stories and 16 minutes of drumming, I have decided to return this purchase because I feel the packaging was so misleading.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The couple in "The Wedding Present" was lovely.

Which character – as performed by Neil Gaiman – was your favorite?

Neil Gaiman is a wonderful narrator and he was no different here. My low rating on performance was for the excessive drumming, not Gaiman's performance.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

It would be a very short movie!

Any additional comments?

Remove the final track, and lower the price significantly, and this would be a decent purchase. As is, it is misleading.

While the story was good and Gaiman always performs well, this was definitely too expensive for so little product. Not only is it short, there was a 16 minutes instrumental track at the end for no apparent reason.

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